Powerful story of Thai-Vietnamese woman's fight against HIV shared at UN meeting   Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam (R) and Lu Thi Thanh at the plenary session of the 2016 United Nations High-Level Meeting on Ending AIDS in New York, United States June 9, 2016. Tuoi Tre Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam shared a powerful story of a Thai-Vietnamese woman who refused to give in to HIV infection during his speech at a UN meeting on ending AIDS last Thursday. Speaking at the plenary session of the 2016 United Nations High-Level Meeting on Ending AIDS in New York, Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Dam shared the story of a Thai-Vietnamese woman currently living HIV and working relentlessly to support the HIV community in Vietnam. The woman in question is Lu Thi Thanh, an ethnic Thai resident in a poor hamlet in Dien Bien Province in the northern mountains. “In order to end [the AIDS epidemic], we must increase our efforts. And we should do this together. This is not just the voice of my government, but also the voice of the most vulnerable,” the deputy premier said before introducing Thanh to the UN delegates at the meeting. ‘Please do not forget us’ In a moment of emotion, Thanh said briefly in Vietnamese to the international audience, “Thank you! Thank you so much for giving me back my life, my hope, and my future! Please do not forget us! Thank you!” Thanh was diagnosed with HIV in 2009 after the death of her first husband, and has since been under antiretroviral (ARV) treatment. She is now working to facilitate access to lab tests and other medical services for high-risk people in order to prevent the spread of the virus in Vietnam and provide better living conditions for the infected. In 2013, Thanh got married for the second time to another HIV carrier and took part in a prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) program, the result of which was a healthy baby girl born without HIV infection. “This miracle was only made possible because of an internationally financed project, in partnership with the local government and community,” Dam said. “Without this, she would probably not be with us today.” “It’s not just [Thanh]. Many other people - women and children - would be infected, could not go to school, could not work, could not have families, and would not be alive,” the deputy prime minister added. Deputy PM Dam is also serving as chairman of Vietnam’s National Committee for AIDS, Drugs, and Prostitution Prevention and Control. Vietnam’s commitment to 90-90-90 treatment targets Deputy Prime Minister Dam said in his speech that HIV prevention and control are one of the highest priorities of the Vietnamese government, adding that the epidemic has been largely controlled in the country and HIV infection was no longer looked down upon by the community. “Despite the fact that the epidemic is stabilized, we are increasing resources for HIV prevention and control,” Dam said. “Vietnam was also the first country in the Asia-Pacific to commit itself to the 90-90-90 targets.” The 90-90-90 HIV treatment targets are the latest initiative by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS), which aims to have 90 percent of all people living with HIV knowing their HIV status, 90 percent of all people diagnosed with HIV infection receiving sustained ARV therapy, and 90 percent of all people under ARV therapy having viral suppression treatment by the year 2020. According to the deputy premier, the world is facing new concerns, ranging from climate change to migration issues, but “HIV and AIDS are still here,” and “without stronger partnership, many countries will be left behind on the fast track to ending AIDS, and there is a real possibility that the epidemic could rebound, could re-emerge as a global threat.” “Let us respond to [Thanh] and to the voices of the voiceless by re-committing ourselves with all our heart and soul to ending AIDS,” Deputy Prime Minister Dam concluded in the applause from the audience. “Let us join hands to achieve the 90-90-90 targets, with 100-100-100 commitment and even more!” TUOI TRE NEWS